To the Memory of Andrew Patrick Maloney

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March 20, 1979 – July 31 2015

Andrew was a fellow classmate who was a part of the Research Scholars Program.  Last week, I was informed that he passed away over the summer. It was even more of a shock that it happened days after the Research Scholars Symposium at John Jay College.

The last day I saw him was during the symposium; a few of us from City Tech left together and Andrew and I  were discussing his project. As we were all about to leave he said he left something behind and had to retrieve it. I asked him if I should get everyone to wait for him to come back. He said to just go ahead.  So we left and I figured we would get in touch during the fall or I would call him with the business card he gave me. The business card was for his Magic services under the pseudonym, ” Doctor Magic.”

Although we’ve only spoke a handful of times few and far between, it was always great having a conversation with him. I’ve always liked talking to him about magic. He recommended I look at Corinda’s “13 Steps to Mentalism,” which I did in fact have. But like many endeavors I was either too intimated and or too undisciplined to give it a go.

I also enjoyed learning more about his work with Professor Kolchenko.  It was interesting learning about different teaching methods being implemented in this project. It was especially amazing his knowledge of video editing and computer animation. Seeing his work and hearing him explain things always gave me the impression as if I were speaking to someone with many lifetimes worth of experience.

He didn’t just spend time on his individual research project; as most Research Scholars from City Tech know, Andrew designed the logo that we used for our poster presentations and even assisted Joyce with the animations for the PowerPoint for her oral presentation at the symposium.

Last Saturday I went to the “memorial service” for lack of a better term.  There were many things I didn’t know about Andrew until that day.  I guess none of us in the Research Scholars program would know each other that well considering we only met once a month during mandatory meetings. Even though we spoke a few times after meetings I always assumed that he was more of a quiet, stoic type.  But that wasn’t necessarily the case and I got to hear a lot of heartwarming stories from his loved ones. Initially I was going there with a somber mindset but it was refreshing to see people there celebrating his life and reflecting on good memories.

What I got from Saturday and from my experience with Andrew is that if people were like onions, sometimes we only see the first layer and don’t realize there are layers and depths of people we don’t realize.  I thought he was more of a loner but it was great to see that there were so many people there to celebrate his life; he obviously affected so many people, in a positive way.  The other lesson I learned that we push things aside too often.  I always meant to call him to talk to him about magic and perhaps ask him if I could pay him to teach me some basics.  Sometimes you just have to take advantage of opportunities before those opportunities are gone. Although our interaction was limited I won’t forget those long conversations we had and his memory will definitely not be forgotten.

Dr. Magic
Click on image to go to Andrew’s web site.

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